Under normal circumstances, a hand-held laser-based bar code symbol reader will scan and decode any bar code symbol it detects on a given laser scan line and transmit its symbol character data to the host system or store the symbol character data within onboard memory. This type of system operation is often desired under certain circumstances, such as scanning menus or programming-type bar codes. However, it sometimes desirable to scan and decode bar code symbols with a greater degree of control that is not supported by conventional laser-scanning systems, creating significant drawbacks in challenging scanning applications.
Thus, there is a great need in the art for an improved hand-supportable laser-scanning bar code symbol reader, that is capable of selectively reading code symbols with increased levels of end-user control, while avoiding the shortcomings and drawbacks of prior art methods and apparatus.